Sinner marches to victory over De Minaur in ATP Finals opener
The Italian is looking to win the season-ending event for the first time
Ella Ling/Shutterstock
Italy’s Jannik Sinner gave the home crowd the perfect end to day one of the ATP Finals in Turin on Sunday as he beat Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-4 in his opening round-robin match of the season-ending event.
The world No1 fell an early break down in the first set but quickly got back on track and pulled away, showing few signs of rust despite having not played since winning the title in Shanghai a month ago.
Sinner’s win put him alongside Taylor Fritz at the top of the Ilie Nastase group, the American having beaten Daniil Medvedev in the first match of the event earlier in the day.
“Considering this (break), I’m very happy,” Sinner said. “I started off with some unforced errors, he was playing great in the beginning, I just tried to stay there mentally, knowing that hopefully at some point my tennis will arrive. I started to return very well. Serve I have to improve….but today I’m very pleased about the win.”
Early break soon erased
De Minaur qualified for the Finals for the first time in his career, the Australian having reached three consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals in 2024 and improved his game in every aspect. But with a 0-7 head to head record against the Italian, the odds were not in his favour.
The Aussie settled well and when he broke for 2-1 in the opening set, a few murmurs drifted around the arena.
But Sinner simply lifted his game immediately, breaking back to love, holding to love and then breaking again as he took control of the opening set. Three games later, the set was his.
Sinner pulls away again for victory
A natural counter-puncher, De Minaur was having to throw everything at Sinner, living on the edge, which resulted in a few more errors than he would usually accept. A good hold from 0-30 in the third game kept him in front but it was a short reprieve.
Thumping the ball on both sides, Sinner got himself to 0-40 at 2-2 and though a four-minute break when a fan fell ill in the stands interrupted his concentration, he took his fourth chance to break and moved ahead 3-2.
And that, pretty much, was that, as Sinner grew in confidence again, wrapping up victory with his seventh ace.
De Minaur: “Unforced errors cost me”
De Minaur rued not being able to sustain his early advantage.
“I started really well,” he said. “I started with the right game plan, and then I probably missed a couple shots trying to go for it. A couple unforced errors there ended up costing me and maybe giving me a little bit of a lead and be able to build confidence. He might have dropped a little bit his level.
“Wasn’t the case. I tried. Didn’t work out today. On to the next.”
